Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: Texas Standard » Stories from Texas
Episode: What Elvis Presley Owed West Texas
Description: By W.F. Strong
It is my belief that Texas was largely responsible for launching Elvis Presley’s phenomenal career. Texas, perhaps as much as Tennessee, gave him a vital push onto the national stage and empowered his rise to the eventual undisputed title of “The king of rock and roll.”
Now, I’m not claiming that he became the timeless icon of popular culture that he became, solely because of Texas. Given his super-charged charisma, even if he’d first toured in Northern Siberia, he still would have melted teenage hearts and attracted a massive fo...